Nintendo Switch is the fastest-selling console of the generation in the US, says NPD Group

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Sales numbers often turn into noise, but some help explain a moment. In December 2018, NPD Group, the company that tracks games retail in the United States, confirmed that the Nintendo Switch was the fastest-selling console of that generation in the country.

From March 2017, when it launched, through November 2018, the Switch sold more than 8.7 million units in the US. Comparing the same time on the market, no other console of the generation, neither the PlayStation 4 nor the Xbox One, had reached that number so quickly.

The end of 2018 was decisive. Three releases drove the console’s sales: Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, Super Mario Party and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. According to Nintendo, in the United States alone, the Pokémon games passed 2 million units, Super Mario Party reached 1.4 million and Smash Ultimate sold more than 3 million copies in just 11 days.

For fighting game fans, the Smash figure is the one that stands out most. Ultimate had been the most pre-ordered game in the history of the Switch and of the franchise, and its launch performance confirmed the expectation. A fighting game driving console sales is not something you see every year.

What came next

The pace held for years. Smash Ultimate passed 21.1 million copies in September 2020, becoming the best-selling fighting game of all time, and reached 36.24 million by March 2025. The Switch, for its part, passed 155 million units shipped worldwide by December 2025, the second best-selling console of all time, behind only the PlayStation 2. Its successor, the Nintendo Switch 2, arrived on June 5, 2025, compatible with most of the first one’s library. With patience, an entire generation was built on top of that year of 2018.

Source: Eurogamer / NPD Group.